The films of Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson sits in the submarine pilot's seat on the set of "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou."

The Oscar-nominated writer-director of such stylized comedies as "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox," has released his eighth feature film, "The Grand Budapest Hotel," a murder-mystery caper that recently won the Special Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson's films are highly-stylized worlds in which the camera frame - gliding through elaborate sets jammed with detail - almost becomes a character itself.

Through his scripts' arch, quotable dialogue, Anderson explores characters who have romantic visions of themselves, who nonetheless confront situations that undercut their success or authority. The best-laid plans almost never come to anything good, no matter how well-equipped the protagonists, though a kind of happiness may be achieved in spite of themselves.

"Bottle Rocket"

Born in Houston, Wes Anderson met Owen Wilson at the University of Texas at Austin; they later collaborated on the short "Bottle Rocket" (1994), starring Owen and Luke Wilson as two amateur thieves. Their burglaries (including of their parents' house) are committed while riffing on pop culture (TV's "Starsky & Hutch"), and are successful almost despite the rigorous plotting of Dignan (Owen Wilson).

Credit: Criterion Collection

"Bottle Rocket"

Anderson and Wilson expanded "Bottle Rocket" into a feature-length script. Released in 1996, the film co-starred Robert Musgrave, Lumi Cavazos ("Like Water for Chocolate"), and James Caan as criminal leader Mr. Henry.

Max: "My top schools where I want to apply to are Oxford and the Sorbonne. But my safety's Harvard."

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

"Rushmore"

Mr. Blume (Bill Murray): "What's the secret, Max?"

Max: (Jason Schwartzman): "The secret?"

Mr. Blume: "Yeah. You look like you've got it all figured out."

Max: "I don't know. I think you just got to find something you love to do, then do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore."

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

"Rushmore"

Bill Murray won the New York Film Critics Circle, L.A. Film Critics Assn., and Independent Spirit Awards, and earned a Golden Globe nomination, for his performance as jaded businessman Herman Blume in "Rushmore." It was his first of seven appearances in Wes Anderson's films.

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

"The Royal Tenenbaums"

Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson co-wrote "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001), an absurdist saga of a "Family of Geniuses" whose brilliance had been erased by "two decades of betrayal, failure and disaster." The cast featured Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bill Murray, and Luke and Owen Wilson. It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Credit: Touchstone PIctures

"The Royal Tenenbaums"

Gene Hackman racing go karts in "The Royal Tenenbaums." He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor - Musical/Comedy.

Credit: Touchstone PIctures

"The Squid and the Whale"

Wes Anderson produced "The Squid and the Whale" (2005), Noah Baumbach's brutal semi-autobiographical comedy-drama of his parents' divorce. The film starred Jess Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels.

Anderson and Baumbach would later collaborate on the screenplays of "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox."

Credit: Samuel Goldwyn Pictures

"The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou"

"The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (2004) starred Bill Murray as a renowned oceanographer obsessed with his own white whale: capturing on film the legendary Jaguar shark. The film co-starred Michael Gambon, Angelica Huston, Bud Cort, Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett and Willem Dafoe.

Credit: Buena Vista

"The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou"

Wes Anderson with actors Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett during filming of "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (2004).

Credit: Buena Vista

"The Darjeeling Limited"

Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson as brothers on a spiritual journey through India on board "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007). As in "Bottle Rocket," Wilson played a meticulous planner, this time using the train journey as a means to reconnect with his siblings and his mother (Anjelica Huston).

"Fantastic Mr. Fox"

The targets of Mr. Fox: Three of the nastiest farmers around: chicken farmer Boggis (left), who "weighs the same as a young rhinoceros"; duck and goose farmer Bunce (right), whose chin "would be under water in the shallow end of any swimming pool on the planet"; and turkey and apple farmer Bean, who "invented his own species of each."

Credit: Fox Searchlight

"Fantastic Mr. Fox"

"Moonrise Kingdom"

Young love prompts two adolescents (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) to run away from home, leading to a desperate search by parents, police and Boy Scouts on an island off the New England coast, in Wes Anderson's endearing comedy, "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012). Anderson and co-writer Roman Coppola received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Credit: Focus Features

"Moonrise Kingdom"

A precipitous treehouse at a Boy Scout jamboree in Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom."

Credit: Focus Features

"Moonrise Kingdom"

Kara Hayward in Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom."

Credit: Moonrise Kingdom

"Moonrise Kingdom"

Edward Norton starred as Scout Master Ward, discovering one of his scouts has flown the coop, in Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom."

Ward: "You have your orders. Use the orienteering and path-finding skills you've been practicing all summer. Let's find our man and bring him safely back to camp. Remember: this isn't just a search party, it's a chance to do some first-class scouting."

Credit: Focus Features

"The Grand Budapest Hotel"

In Wes Anderson's typically stylized comedy "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014), set at an opulent resort in the Eastern European Republic of Zubrowka between the Wars, Ralph Fiennes plays the hotel concierge who is framed for murder after one of his conquests - an elderly resident played by Tilda Swinton (left) - is found dead under mysterious circumstances.

Credit: Fox Searchlight

"The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Ralph Fiennes as the Concierge and Tony Revolori as the Lobby Boy, Zero, in Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel."